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Ranged AD: Breakdown and Analysis

Ranged AD: Breakdown and Analysis

Updated on April 18, 2012
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League of Legends Build Guide Author Ezrea1 Build Guide By Ezrea1 45 2 165,359 Views 41 Comments
45 2 165,359 Views 41 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author Ezrea1 Build Guide By Ezrea1 Updated on April 18, 2012
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Choose Champion Build:

  • LoL Champion: Ashe
  • LoL Champion: Miss Fortune
  • LoL Champion: Graves
  • LoL Champion: Tristana
  • LoL Champion: Vayne
  • LoL Champion: Caitlyn
  • LoL Champion: Urgot
  • LoL Champion: Ezreal
  • LoL Champion: Corki
  • LoL Champion: Kog'Maw

Updates

4/9/12~Initial Version Published. Along with Mini In-Depth MF guide.
4/18/12~Ezreal Guide added.


Everyweek(or so), I'll be adding a new in depth guide for a character. Look forward to it. ^ ^
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Introduction

Credits to Wrath for this awesome banner! ^ ^

Hey guys, Ezrea1(or TerraAquaVen) here, I'm back with another guide after like....a year. This time I bring you guys pretty much a general guide on ADs, what is AD, and how to carry your game as AD. I'm here with this guide because people in pub who play ADs are like all "OH EVERYONE GETS MANAMUNE ON MF" or **** like "ON HIT KOG IS GOOD". No people don't do that and it's bad....L2P AD right.


THE ONE UNORTHODOX AD IN THIS GUIDE IS Urgot. HE'S HERE BECAUSE HE IS POPULAR AND HE WANTS TO SHOW YOU WHEN Manamune CAN ACTUALLY WORK.
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What is dah AD carry?

An AD carry is usually a ranged character that relies on their auto attack a whole lot on top of their abilities(they have abilities, but their autoattacks are STRONGER). They usually go bot lane with a support character. ADs are usually not as strong early game and require a whole boatload of farming to transition into late game where they stand in a safe place and right click to carry their team into victory.

PROS

-relatively easy to play in most cases(right click and win)
-does high damage with auto attack at high range
-"carry" your team to victory



CONS

-requires farming. LOTS. of farming.
-squishy
-extremely position reliant
-item dependent
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When/Why pick AD carry?

Pick AD when you:
-are 1st/2nd/3rd pick in Ranked or Draft Mode(picking AD/support/jungle early prevents enemy team from counterpicking your solos)
-are smart/good at mechanics like positioning
-want to carry(and trusts mid and top to not feed)
-is inherently good at last hitting and positioning
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Who are the best ADs?

I've listed the most commonly seen 10 AD carries(the ONLY 10...I think o.O) along with some slightly varied builds. Each AD is valued for different things, some are good at one thing, some are good at others, here are some examples:


Late game Monsters

-highest late game damage with Silver Bolts without buying armor shred

~ lategame highest range with Bio-Arcane Barrage active as well as hp% based damage. Can self peel with Void Ooze. Siege with Living Artillery. very terror.

- Rapid Fire strongest auto attack steroid

- by far the most underrated of all ADs.Her late game is monster as she can initiate, kite, and scout. But also by far the hardest to play due to her ult's clutch-ness and her need for superior positioning.


Safe Lanes


-highest natural auto attack range. Yordle Snap Trap+ 90 Caliber Net=don't waste your time ganking. Traps also provides great zoning tool.

- Spell Shield blocks CC and On The Hunt can let her run very fast

-both have a built in flash skill with Rocket Jump, Valkyrie and Arcane Shift making them really hard to gank on top of Flash


KILL LANES

~these characters have strong burst damage early game to produce a kill lane, which is when you kill the opposite lane's AD repeatedly to make them lose farm and exp(and push to their turret).

Split Pusher

-all have very fast wave clears and good steroid for pushing turrets.


Global Support

-can both help team with ultimates when they're else where


Crowd Control

-something carries usually lack...the fact that they have CC with Yordle Snap Trap or Enchanted Crystal Arrow means that your team can control a fight a lot more effectively


Counter Meta
-both have abilities that can reduce heal with grievous wound. The current meta dictates a bot support that heals and the AD carry running heal most of the time. The fact that these 2 characters can reduce heal means that they can win hard engages in lane and prevent key enemy characters from being saved in teamfights.
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Summoner Spells

Tier One

-used to reposition, escape, and RARELY flash to kill(leaves you without escapes a lot). not much else to say. THE MOST commonly used SS.

-keeping carry alive is key to winning late game. Take to heal bait, heal and run, or heal whole team in teamfight.

-take when in draft mode or ranked and you can see enemy team with lots of CC. can cleanse Ignite and Exhaust

-good for 1v1 or lane hard engages and for disabling enemy carries late game. nowadays more commonly taken on supports so carries can take Heal.


Tier Two

-used to net you kills early game, reduces healing, but scales out late game. Take this if you plan on making bot a kill lane.

-not too much use since most of the time you'll be hanging around bot lane(where most of the action is early and mid game). take if you KNOW you'll end up split pushing.

-not taken much since the Flash rage started. Flash+ Ghost is great for staying alive if enemy team is looking to kill you.

Tier Three
everything else that I'm too lazy to write. They either have way too long cooldown or isn't useful enough to consider.
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Runes

I usually don't really stress runes because I think personal player skill is more important but runes are there for you to have a stronger early game so you bring out a stronger mid/late game.


Flat AD
~with the addition of the 10% armor pen mastery running flat ADs now pans out better in the long run. Helps last hit. Great for early high damage.


Lifesteal
~ Great when you have a non-healer support like Nunu & Willump.

Flat Armor
~ Helps out in early game trades against enemy AD and creep aggro.

MRES/lvl
~ Scales into /midlate game against mages with CC.

MP5/lvl
~ if you are running a mana hungry champ and you don't need armor because you have a Taric or something.

Armor Pen
greater mark of desolation ~ lost popularity after new 10% ArPen mastery. Run this if you don't have Flat AD. better than nothing but doesn't scale as well overall.
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Masteries

21/9/0.

no room for discussion. 21 in offense for highest damage. 9 in defense for early survivability.







kfine if you can also do 21/0/9 for early mana and improved flash.
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Item~The Standard DPS build

This is why people in pub are terror. They don't know how to build AD. They think Manamune or Madred's Bloodrazor is an AD item or gonna help them do damage.

KEY NOTE*
-AD Carries are strongest late game because they scale so well
-They scale well because their role scales from the most factors: Attack Damage, Attack Speed, Crit Chance, Crit Damage, Armor Penetration.
-building upon these will give you the highest DPS with your auto attack, NOT MANAMUNE



...with that said, the most standard build you'll often see is

+ x3+ x2+ + + + + + +

if you build like this for AD you'll almost never go wrong. Why is this build so powerful and why do most high elo players build like this with very minimal deviation? let's break this down.


ITEM BREAKDOWN



Start



+ x3
This build is currently the most popular start. WHY? Because boots helps you move around easier in lane(ADs tend to have slower base MS) and dodge skills, avoid ganks, and make plays(MAKE DA BIG PLAYS MENG!). Health Potionx3 gives great sustain if you don't have a dedicated healer. I use this start whenever my support isn't Soraka.


Great starting item. Money efficient. Gives sustain, health, and extra AD for last hitting. Profits you greatly in the long run. But it leaves you slow and slightly vulnerable. I take this when I have a Soraka or a healer and enemy bot has Soraka.

*If there's a soraka bot on either side and a healer on the other team, most likely going to turn into a farm fest bot.

Early Goals



x2 or x3+ +

This is great for the early and mid sustain that you need to transition into late game when you can deal tons of damage. Keep Doran's Blade to the very end until you absolutely have to sell them to clear item slots.

*IMPORTANT*~The Doran's Bladex2(x3 if you're looking for a more solid early) is ESPECIALLY vital to sustain you and make sure you DON'T SKIP THIS. In pub games, you can often see ADs with 2x Doran's Blade+ Berserker's Greaves bully an AD with other items out of lane because they cannot take as much damage or sustain themselves.



Mid Game Goals




+ + ~You want Infinity Edge+ Phantom Dancer to be your main damage goals because they give: damage, crit, crit damage, attack speed. These stacks scale together very well and will significantly increase your output. Although sometimes you might have to deviate, this will most likely be what you want. But let's breakdown your mid game goals situationally.


Optimal Damage~get most of the times
+


Sustain~Get for shorter ranged champs( Vayne, Graves, they will take more hits because of their shorter range, thus the sustain) or when you plain just need sustain.
+


Objectives/Split Push/Early Dominance~For when you're so behind(you don't want to fight when you're behind, just split push farm and ninja out objectives) or just want more solid control over objectives(baron, dragon, buffs) and push turrets. This is for either you're really behind or really ahead.
x3+ +


Defensive Items~your 3rd big purchase should almost ALWAYS be a defensive item to mitigate some focus. The 3 biggest defensive items are Quicksilver Sashvs. Guardian Angelvs. Banshee's Veil.

Quicksilver Sash~quick and effective. hard counters to things like Mordekaiser's Children of the Grave+ Ignite combo. Effective yet it does not delay your other items.

Guardian Angel~this is better when enemy is more physical damage focused than magical and there's more damage going to you than CC. Come right back to life.

*NOTE~In some cases when you feel like you do enough damage but die too fast, you might wanna get both Quicksilver Sash and Guardian Angel

Banshee's Veil~more expensive than QSS and people can mess with your shield. Get when you're pretty well farmed and enemy has strong initiate but no effective poke to remove your bubble.

*Tip: Spend any excess money from mid game on Elixir of Agility. Dat **** works.

Late Game Goals

+ . Any excess money on: + + +

*Note~Depending on whether enemy team builds armor or not, you can take either Last Whisper or Bloodthirster first. In most cases though, it's going to be Last Whisper.
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Farming, CS(creep score)

Farm/last hitting is probably the most important thing you can do to improve your damage. Minions give lots of gold and exp more than any other source(including champion kills).
Early game minions give around 20 gold per last hit which equals to around 15CS=1 Champ kill.

How CS comes out(on a none hardcore level)
Great CSing~200+ by 20 minutes
Good CSing~150+ by 20 minutes
Satisfactory CSing~100+ by 20 minutes

*Note~good ADs can easily farm out Infinity Edge around 16 minutes.

Farming significantly outweighs losing CS trying to get kills. But if you run a kill lane, you either kill or pressure opposite lane to make them lose CS.


TL;DR~take last hits in lane, the money really adds up.
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Lane Control

One common problem with many players is that they don't know when they should be pushing their lane or even what pushing is. The minion wave will maintain a mostly neutral push against each other until you start auto attacking the minions or when you use an AoE clear on them. That's pushing. Freezing lane is when you just run idly around your lane and only auto attack to last hit the minions, pushing slightly when the creep wave goes near your turret.

*tip~you generally want to freeze your lane right in front of turret in earlier phases. It's safe because it's near your turret and right outside turret range means turret won't be taking your last hits.

Most of the time early game you would want to freeze lane some where safe and just farm. Unless you have a bully lane and you spot their jungler elsewhere. You also want to push out your lane when you B so that your turret doesn't take any of your farm while you're gone.

TL;DR~learn when and how to push and freeze your lane
Freeze when:
-other lane is more aggressive
-you're behind
-you're too lazy to fight

Push when:
-more than 3 members on their team is on the other side of the map
-before going back to buy
-when you have great ward coverage and you want to pressure your lane
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In Depth Mini-Guide~Ezreal


Ezreal is a ranged AD character that excels at poking, skirmishing, and has a global ultimate. He can be built both Standard DPS or Trinity Force Bruiser-ish DPS. Tri-Force Ezreal stomps games harder but Standard DPS is better late game. If played right, he will dominate lane with his poke.


Strength
-Strong poke
-Short cooldown jump with Arcane Shift
-Global Ult
-Great range, poke or last hit
-Fun to play
-Awesome Dance
Weaknesses
-High Mana cost
-Spells falls off
-High skill cap


Compliments
Soraka, Sona, Janna, and my personal favorite: Singed

Counters
Soraka, Taric, Caitlyn, Graves

Pick Against
Vayne, Corki(pre-6),
*Ezreal does mostly the same against everyone in lane. Except for champions with extremely short range like Vayne.


Summoner Spells
Flash, Ignite, Heal, Cleanse,

Runes
Flat AD or ArPen+MP5/lvl or Armor+MRES/lvl+ArPen or Flat AD

Itemization
Standard DPS, Trinity Force route if you need tankiness or enemy team has weak late game, Wriggle's Lantern route for a stronger early game
*Trinity Force Route: or + + + + +


Skills
~Very average in terms of steroid. But it's strong because you could in theory keep up 50%IAS(Increased Attack Speed) forever in a dragged out fight. Provided that you hit your spells.
~Great poke in lane. Useless late game after you acquire Infinity Edge+ Phantom Dancer. Use once or twice per fight late game for CDR or poke.
~Useless early but late game provides great Attack Speed Buff/Debuff during a fight. Land it.
~Possibly the shortest flat cooldown on an escape by a carry. Use this a lot to escape and reposition in fights.
~Global range. Great damage(until it falls off). Hit a minion wave for 5 stacks on Rising Spell Force. Snipe for teh lulz.


Tips and Tricks
- Ezreal can go mid as a mid AD in case bot lane want's to do something ******ed kill lane thing.
- Trueshot Barrage a minion wave in late late game fights(better hit chance) for instant 5 stacks on Rising Spell Force. Your auto attack will outdamage it anyways.
- Mystic Shot can check brushes pretty well.
- Mystic Shot's actual range is a little bit outside of indicated range.
- Mystic Shot will proc red buff.
-if you use Essence Flux to scout a bush or a monster den. It will tell you the exact amount of enemy champions hit.
- Essence Flux will give/take away the equivalent of a Recurve Bow for 5 seconds at max level.
- Arcane Shift can hop over some of the biggest walls in the game. Experiment with it! ^ ^
-Use Arcane Shift to reposition yourself in a fight. Constantly reposition yourself at your need to minimize damage and maximize focus.
-You can pull off a high damage burst combo at almost any level with + + . But careful of counter damage and the mana cost.
-Be careful when escaping across a jungle den with Arcane Shift as it will damage and draw creep aggro.
- Arcane Shift will hit stealthed enemies or enemies in brush.
-Use Trueshot Barrage to initiate a counter dragon/baron fight.
-Because of the casting delay, you want to shoot Trueshot Barrage to where your enemy will be in 2 seconds(does not apply to stationary enemies).
- Trueshot Barrage cannot be interrupted(except by death). In a close duel where both you and enemy are low(but if they will kill you first). Flash into brush and ult their face.
-Learn to use SmartCasting.
-Hit your spells. Don't miss. Please?
-/dance
-Watch Haruhi
-Don't buy Manamune
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In Depth Mini-Guide~Miss Fortune


Miss Fortune was the first AD I've ever played. Her laning is probably the strongest out of all ADs at the moment. Her passive works with her other skills and lets her bully the other lane. She can turn her lane into a kill lane easier because she can stop Heal and alike with impure shot. She is good for beginners because her skills are mostly straight forward, is easy to pick-up, and has quite an easy time laning.



Strengths
-Strongest Laner(can even still solo mid/top)
-Reduces Healing
-Good Burst
-Great AoE ult(compliments AoE team comps)
-Innate mobility
-BOOBS. BIG.
Weaknesses
-No Built-in escape
-Slightly high mana cost
-Lackluster pulling into late game(need to force early advantage)


Compliments
Blitzcrank, Leona, Sona, Janna

Counterpicks
Caitlyn, Nunu & Willump, Janna, Nocturne(ganks)

Pick Against
Soraka, Dr. Mundo, Vladimir, Heavy Healers.


Summoner Spells
Flash, Heal, Cleanse


Runes
Flat AD or ArPen+Flat Armor or MP5/lvl+MRES/lvl+Flat AD or ArPen


Itemization
Standard AD route or Wriggle's Lantern route.


Skills
~great passive. Use to get back into lane. Move around map. Move to bully people around lane. Disappears when damaged. :/
~Maxed first. Taken for burst damage in lane.
~Maxed second. Take 1 point early for anti-healing. Max mid game for great DPS increase.
~Maxed last. Take 1 point at lvl 2~4 for the slow. AoE slow important.
~Max whenever availble. Great for mid game fights and lane fights. If you need to back n buy and your lane is pushed. Ult clear a wave to push the minion wave in your favor.


Tips and Tricks
-auto attack,Q, auto attack in a quick succession amounts to the damage of 3 attacks in the time of 1. BURST.
-if a target Flash out at low health behind their ally, simply Double Up bounce for a safe kill if position allows.
- Impure Shots and other on hit effects can be proc'ed by Double Up, just not crit. :/
- Make it Rain can check bushes.
- Make it Rain can cut off choke points in jungle skirmishes if either team decides to chase
-fighting in a closed space(baron or dragon pit, jungle) allows for superior positioning of Bullet Time
- Bullet Time compliments AoE team comps really well( Amumu, Galio, Wukong, Sona, etc.)
- Bullet Time insta-clear minion waves. Use it before you B after a fight if you still have it.
-In some late game cases, your auto attack out damage Bullet Time. If so, turn it off and auto attack.
-Don't get Manamune.
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